IMF calls on Greece to target vacant homes to ease housing crisis

The International Monetary Fund has submitted to the authorities caller argumentation proposals to code the lodging crisis, arsenic portion of its yearly regular appraisal of the economy, completed a fewer days ago. It projected to stimulate supply done a much progressive utilization of the stock of unused housing. To execute this, the IMF recommends imposing a levy connected vacant homes, particularly successful areas under large unit owed to demand. The IMF besides proposes scaling up renovation programs for aged homes based connected income criteria.

As IMF analysts explain, the continuous emergence successful lodging income prices, which reached 7.8% successful 2025 astatine a nationwide level (per the Bank of Greece terms indexes), is owed to precocious request and debased utilization of existing homes, arsenic well arsenic constricted operation activity. Also, arsenic the IMF specifically states, “pressures connected lodging affordability are magnified by the mismatch betwixt request and supply, including section impacts from lodging sharing” (through short-term rental platforms).

Based connected ELSTAT data, successful 2021, successful each of Attica, astir 1 successful 4 residential properties, oregon 526,154 properties, appeared vacant. The biggest occupation concerns the halfway of Athens, where 117,137 vacant homes oregon 26.8% of the total are located. These are properties owned by backstage individuals but besides by nationalist bodies, whether it is the constrictive oregon broader nationalist assemblage (EFKA, municipality, foundations etc.), while some are besides successful the portfolios of banks and indebtedness absorption companies (servicers).

The occupation today is that the latest available information connected vacant homes is based connected outdated information dating backmost 5 years. Since then, a batch has changed successful the market, making immoderate effort to workout policy, particularly astatine a much section level, peculiarly risky. This is 1 of the reasons why the Real Estate Ownership Registry (MIDA) is astir to start operating. There, among different things, owners will beryllium asked to state the existent use of the property, similar whether it is owner-occupied, whether it is rented connected a semipermanent oregon short-term lease, whether it is vacant oregon whether it is granted escaped of charge.